Three generations joined the faculty of the recent Life Matters Course in Melbourne, Australia, 5-14 February. The 20 young participants from 15 ethnic and cultural backgrounds were enthralled when three-month-old Charlie Foster joined his mother and grandmother during a session on ‘Exploring change’. While Charlie lay placidly on his rug surrounded by the participants, the question was posed, ‘What are the values we need to live if Charlie is to grow up in a better world?’

The relationship between the values we choose and the way people live was a focus for the daily ‘Inner reflection’ sessions. This nine-day residential course, run at the IofC centre in Melbourne, over 15 years has built a network of young change-makers across Asia and the Pacific. Other sessions explored included ‘Identity and destiny’, ‘Responding to conflict creatively’, ‘Creating community’, and ‘Searching for meaning and direction’.

Speaking on the final night of the course at a public occasion, community worker Anne Gibbons said, ‘Before I came to the Life Matters course I had been searching for my identity, searching for somewhere to fit in, searching for some beliefs that were mine. Here I discovered the four values of absolute honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Everybody speaks of the importance of values and morals. But for me what gives these four values power is the word “absolute” that somehow holds me totally accountable for my thoughts and my actions. These values are now my values.’